But Sometimes It Is
by bibliophile1887
Summary: Victoria learns that travelling with the Doctor isn't always fun. Second Doctor, Jamie and Victoria.


The trio entered the TARDIS silently. Jamie stood to one side of the console, nursing a gash on his forehead. Victoria stood opposite him, tears leaving streaks on her grimy face. The Doctor removed his coat and flung it across the back of a chair. He began pressing buttons and flicking switches and within moments the time rotor shuddered to life, indicating flight.

They watched the rotor rise and fall slowly. None of them moved, and apart from the occasional sniffle from Victoria, no one said anything. The Doctor looked at his companions, his face worn and tired. He felt every day of his four hundred fifty years; he was exhausted. Jamie and Victoria looked worn out as well, and who could blame them? They had just spent a fortnight in the middle of a war zone. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't bring about a peaceful conclusion to the war. People, good people, had died, and nothing the Doctor or his friends did made the slightest bit of difference.

Crossing to Jamie, the Doctor took the bloodstained rag from his forehead and looked at it. Placing his hand on the top of Jamie's head he bent him down to get a better look. "Mmm. It's not that bad." He turned to Victoria. "Why don't you take Jamie back and put a dressing on his head?"

She sniffed and nodded. Jamie looked questioningly at the Doctor and he nodded in reply. Jamie followed Victoria from the console room as the Doctor watched. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and thought of the previous two weeks. It was disastrous. He left Gallifrey because he didn't approve of their policy of non-interference. He firmly believed that if you had the power to help people, you should. When they refused your help and people died that made it all the more painful. He watched the time rotor rise and fall for several minutes, lost in thought.

"Doctor."

He looked up. Jamie had just entered the room, in clean clothes and his head bandaged.

"Ah, Jamie. How's your head?"

'Oh, it's fine, but I'm worried about Victoria."

"Oh?"

"Aye. I don't think she's cut out for this, all this travelling."

The Doctor stared at Jamie for a moment before responding. Reaching up he patted his shoulder. "I'll talk to her." He began walking toward Victoria's room.

"She won't talk to you."

The Doctor turned back to face him. "You mean she won't talk to you."

Jamie's shoulders sagged. "Aye."

The Doctor patted him on the shoulder and smiled. Then he turned and went to find Victoria.

Her bedroom door was closed and the Doctor wasn't about to see if it was unlocked. Raising his hand, he knocked gently. When she didn't reply, he knocked again. "Victoria. Please let me in." After a few moments, he heard shuffling on the other side of the door. Finally it opened a crack and the Doctor could see her stepping away. He pushed the door open and quietly stepped into her room.

Victoria was sitting in a chair in the corner of her room, her arms wrapped around herself in comfort. She hadn't changed her clothes and her eyes were red and puffy.

Sitting on the edge of her bed, the Doctor tried not to look as uncomfortable as he felt. "Thank you for tending to Jamie's injury." She smiled half-heartedly. "He's always getting bruised and beaten." He paused and looked around the room. "It's nice to have someone with us who can take care of our injuries."

Victoria nodded but didn't say anything. The Doctor wasn't going to press her. If she wanted to talk, she would. After a few silent minutes he stood, and moved to leave the room.

"I wanted to help them. I cared about them so much. They were just so sweet and innocent." She sniffed again. The Doctor watched her. "They didn't deserve to die like that."

"No one does, Victoria," the Doctor said softly.

"But why didn't they listen? We told them what they needed to do!" Her voice broke and she began shouting. "We tried to help them, and they didn't listen! They killed themselves!" She began crying again. "All because they wouldn't listen," she muffled.

The Doctor knelt next to her, and tucked an arm around her shoulders. Victoria responded by wrapping both her arms around the Doctor's neck and clinging tightly. The Doctor rubbed her back, trying to comfort her. "They don't always listen, Victoria."

"But why?"

"Sometimes they think they know better. They just can't accept that someone else might have the answer."

Victoria thought about this for a moment. "We failed," she said softly.

The Doctor looked into her face, sadness in his eyes. "They failed themselves. We did all we could." Victoria sniffed and the Doctor reached up a knuckle and beeped her nose. She tried to smile and failed. He rose and opened the door.

"Will it always be like this?" she asked softly.

"No." He turned to look at her. "No, it won't always be like this."

Victoria nodded. "It's just.…" She stopped unsure of what to say next.

The Doctor sat back down. "You want to go home?"

Her head hung in silence. The Doctor didn't want to take her home, he couldn't. Victoria hadn't been travelling with them for very long. It wasn't unusual for his friends to suddenly realise this wasn't what they were expecting. And, to be fair, Victoria hadn't chosen to go with him in the first place.

"I don't know," she said sullenly.

He patted her shoulder and she looked up at him. "It's not always like this. In fact, it rarely is. Sometimes things don't go the way you planned. That happens in life, whether you live in one time and place, or if you travel around the universe in a police box. But there are so many wonderful things to see and do out there. Remember what I told you? No one in the universe can do what we're doing. It's exciting and it's adventurous. And sometimes things don't go your way. But that's no reason to give up. The next place will be different, and the next and the next. Do you really want to give that up?"

Victoria held her handkerchief tightly in her fist. "No. I don't"

The Doctor smiled and kissed the top of her head. "Clean yourself up, and have a hot cup of tea," the Doctor suggested. "You'll feel better."

Victoria watched him leave her room, and close the door. She stared at the closed door for several minutes before she got up and took off her torn dress.


End file.
